Tag Archives: Monica Lewinsky

In the News Paupers humble opinion, the Balloon Boys episode brings to light the extent of the American medias fixation on sensational stories. One wonders which well-researched story was blown out of the water by the Colorado idiot with an oversized Mylar balloon.

Ever since baby Jessica fell down that well in 87, media outlets stand like sphinxes awaiting the next distraction. Of course, we can all recall our own heart tugging distraction from the earnest duties of journalists muckraking where those trillions have disappeared to. A steady stream, an actual genre has appeared to relieve the masses from the nastiness of the news. Shows like Inside Edition cropped up; infotainment became the name of the assault on the press. All through the Clinton presidency, this disease infected the airwaves and culminated in the Monica Lewinsky story. This mentality destroyed the discussion regarding who was to lead our country, and we got George W. Bush and the Iraq War and what will most likely be remembered as the greatest economic calamity in our history.

The father of the Balloon Boy is now the target; ironically getting exactly the attention he wanted by the very media he is accused of lying to. Whether he is ultimately charged with the fraud in the courts is irrelevant. The absolute destruction of informative outlets for real news — in this hour when truth is the only thing that can help us — is as great a crime against us as any committed by Dick the Cheney.